Ice.

Chapter One.

Avery

Okay so, life's a little shitty. But not the "Oh, I have nothing so what's the point of going on," shitty. It's more of the "Wow, everyone I know or talk to is really shitty," shitty. You would think things would change after being with the same people for four years. Maybe they would, you know, decrease in said shittiness as time goes on. But nope, same shitty people.

I lead a pretty average life. I go to school, I go to work, I read books, I hang out with my friend Cam. I live with both my parents, even though I'm not incredibly fond of my father. I have anxiety just like every other 18 year old but I've learned to live with it. So yeah, a pretty typical life of a teenage girl in Seattle.

I don't hate school like everyone else does, despite the shitty people of course. I just like to stay hidden, go to class, and hang out with Cam. It's worked out for me so far.

Cam is like a brother to me. I met him the first day of high school and we really just hit it off. I really liked him for a while, because I'm pathetic and get crushes on people within five minutes of meeting them, but then as time went on we became like brother and sister. He helped me out with my issues at home and I helped him when he was coming to terms with his sexuality. Cam is bisexual, which meant he went through the whole process of figuring out if he was really gay and just didn't want to admit it, or if he was straight and just a little confused. No one knows this about Cam, everyone just assumes that he's straight. He really doesn't give off any kind of vibes that would insinuate a different sexuality if you know what I mean, and he is really attractive so all the girls love him. A lot people also think we are dating, too. We denied it at first, but now neither of us really care. I'm glad I was able to be there for him during that hard period of his life, and now I don't think of him as anything but my brother and best friend.

The bell rings and I flinch, getting caught off guard and snapped out of my daydream. I throw my notebook in my backpack and zip it up, getting up and walking out the door of my class. I walk to my locker, feeling completely out of it. I mentally checked out a period ago after English. It's my favorite class and after that I had math, which is not my strong suit. But now the school day is over and I get to look forward to walking around a bookstore for the next 5 hours.

I don't mind going to work either, though. I like being surrounded by books, and I have some good friends there. Well, two friends. Maureen is probably my best work friend. She's a few years older than me and is just over all a really great person. I feel like everyone has that one really close work friend that you tell basically everything to. She doesn't know anyone in my life, so I can tell her anything about them and she won't have any preconceived notions, it's great.

Then there is James. I may have developed many crushes in the past, but I have only ever really liked 4 guys in my life. One was a guy named Billy that I dated back before I moved, one was a guy named Mason who I dated my sophomore year, one was Cam, and then the last is James. It's actually not fair that the universe put him in my life because there is no way I could not be interested in him. He's tall, has a dark caramel skin tone, kind and warm eyes, and he's fucking British. I mean, come on. Not to mention he's sweet, funny, and loves reading almost as much as I do. He's two years older than me which I don't mind, for some reason it makes me like him more.

I close my locker, jumping when I realize someone is leaning next to me against the row of metal compartments. "You scared me, Cam."

"When don't you get scared?" He replies with a laugh. He's not wrong, I jump at the sight of my own shadow.

"What are you up too tonight?" He asks me, and I just give him a big, cheesy smile. He groans, "Working again?"

"Of course," I laugh lightly, "You could always stop by to visit, you know."